- Home
- The...
The suburban bakery pulling in customers from Melbourne, Perth and even further for a taste of home
Several things stand out at Brazilian-Portuguese bakery Baked at Bina’s. First, streams of regulars, most of whom owners Sabrina and Brian Dias know by name, fill this cheery, sun-filled shop beside a suburban bus stop in Earlwood.
Even in cold, slanting winter rain they come. Families, couples, locals in utes and older gentlemen in zip-up jackets hopping off the bus. They queue to order fat, glistening malasadas, fried, sugar-dusted Portuguese yeast doughnuts filled with custard, caramel, apricot, berries or Nutella. Or trays of just-baked pasteis de nata, Portuguese custard tarts, shimmering and bronzed within a glass cabinet.
People sit at the half a dozen tables, inside and on the footpath, shooting the breeze over a pao na chapa com picanha, a soft-centred Brazilian pao frances roll filled with an eye-widening amount of chubby strips of tender rump cap steak and fried onions, or serves of golden, deep-fried coxhina, Brazilian chicken croquettes.
Another stand out is the prices. Brian and Sabrina, who opened the shop in 2017, own the premises and live above it, work to keep prices affordable.
Customers travel from Perth, Melbourne, Canberra for a taste of their heritage.
Coffees start at $3.80. A Portuguese malasada (or sonho in Brazil) is $4, and the six varieties of pao na chapa (Brazilian for “pressed on the grill”) sandwiches range from $4.50 for the butter-only (mantega) version to $14.50 for the steak. You can take home frozen packs of 10 croquettes, filled with chicken, prawn or codfish, for between $18.50 and $21.50.
The pao na chapa fillings define the Brazilian-Portuguese-Italian-Australian heritage of Brian and Sabrina – mortadella, ham and cheese, egg and bacon, and calabreza/chorico.
“People come and say, ‘I’d like a Brian Special’,” Sabrina says. “That means everything – all the fillings on one roll.”
Brian smiles. “I call that the Heart Attack,” he says. “It is delicious.”
Also doing a hot trade is Sabrina’s range of freshly baked bread. There is bolo de caco, a beautifully soft, flat Portuguese muffin, milk buns, baguettes and Italian-style Vienna loaves.
Racks are filled with kalamata rolls and loaves, baked for Earlwood’s Greek community, and popo seco, rotund, dense Brazilian dinner rolls.
“Look at this,” Brian says, pulling apart a popo seco at its score. “That’s a nice, dense roll. It’s got yeast, but not much, and that, with just butter – it’s beautiful.”
Brian, who was born in Australia and has Portuguese heritage, met Sabrina, who was born in Brazil and has Brazilian and Italian heritage, in Australia in 2000.
Sabrina, whose background is in economics, began her baking career after moving to Australia about 30 years ago, with time as head chef at Glicks Bakery in Melbourne. Brian, who says his mother named him after the late Nine newsreader Brian Henderson, previously worked in hospitality and as a mechanic.
He believes Baked at Bina’s, which the pair opened after running a patisserie in Marrickville, is Australia’s only Portuguese-Brazilian bakery. That means a wide and passionate clientele.
“It’s basically anyone that’s Portuguese-speaking from any part of the world,” he says. “Whether it be Brazil, Portugal, Madeira, Azores, Macau. A lot of people from the Africas come here, as well – Mozambique, Angola ... wherever the Portuguese went to.”
Customers also travel from Perth, Melbourne, Canberra, he says, for a taste of their heritage. He points at the trays of doughnuts.
“That includes the pineapple doughnuts,” he says. “That’s an Australian thing and you’ve got to have that because there are not many bakeries that have them any more. It’s a memory from when I went to school in Randwick. Get to school, have a pineapple doughnut.”
The feeling here is like visiting family. Partly because Brian and Sabrina, aka Bina, meet all with smiles, but also due to the bakery cafe’s design. Brian fitted it to resemble a kitchen with brass lightshades, glass-fronted cabinets filled with tea and coffee packets, and a creamy stone floor and counter tiles.
“This is our home, too,” Brian says. “I love it when people walk in and they say, ‘Oh, it smells so good in here.’ That’s why I love it, too. Waking up and smelling all the bread, the sweet things. It’s a good way of making people happy while also filling their bellies.”
- https://www.msn.com/en-au/lifestyle/foodanddrink/the-suburban-bakery-pulling-in-customers-from-melbourne-perth-and-even-further-for-a-taste-of-home/ar-BB1pbbUe?ocid=00000000
Related
'I just knew I was being followed.' 7 women on the times their gut instinct was right.
Have you ever had a sickening feeling that you couldn't explain? A feeling that made your mind so sure that something was going to happen with no explanation. There are many names for this specific experience: a gut feeling, intuition or women's instinct are phrases we've heard before. But what do they actually mean? It's something that cognitive neuroscientist, professor Joel Pearson, discussed ... Continued
LifestyleSix things introverts know to be true.
If you get your facts from scrolling through social media, you'd be forgiven for thinking being an introvert simply means you hate people. Not so. While people avoidance is a classic introvert trait, hating them is not a given. But worrying that people will think you hate them, is. In my experience, introversion prompts anxiety – which leads to more intense introversion, which leads to more ... Continued
LifestyleWardrobe storage: 5 clothes hacks to maximise your closet
There's nothing more frustrating than running out of space in the closet, so here are 5 wardrobe storage hacks to try. Click the link for more.
LifestyleIncrease your word power with these 11 adjectives everyone should use more often
Some have been pushed to the back of your vocabulary. Others are just plain fun to say. Either way, these are the adjectives you need to spice up your conversations. The post Increase your word power with these 11 adjectives everyone should use more often appeared first on Reader's Digest Australia.
Lifestyle8 things you should never say to your partner, according to a therapist.
On paper we all know there are a set of best practices we should adhere to in order to continue a harmonious and loving relationship. However, in the heat of the moment (after your partner forgets to pick up that thing you asked them to get after reminding them 97 times), all of those best practices can go flying out ... Continued
Lifestyle'Everyone is talking about Witchery's new collection. Here's my honest take as a size 14/16.'
When you think of iconic Australian fashion brands, Witchery likely comes to mind. Witchery has long been known for modern fashion aimed at working women, also offering elevated everyday pieces that could be worn from day to night. They've also done commendable work with the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation through their white shirt campaign since 2018. However, this week Witchery ... Continued
LifestyleThe 5 'rules' for reclining your seat on a plane.
We need to talk about plane seats. Specifically, the reclining kind. If you're a frequent flyer, you've probably noticed that plane seats feel smaller than usual and that's because they are. In the early 2000s, economy airline seats were about 86 centimetres centimetres apart. In 2019, these seats are typically 75 to 78 centimetres apart (if you're lucky! Some airlines have downsized their ... Continued
LifestyleHow to wash your doona when it won't fit in the washing machine
When was the last time you washed yours?
Lifestyle